“Thursday: Clark Venable and Derryl Perry”

Thursday, Corinne and I drove to Hershey, PA, to pick up a new cat. Hershey's pretty close to Lancaster, and we hadn't been back to Corinne's hometown area in over a year, so she was very excited. I'm happy to report that she wasn't disappointed as the day went very, very well.

For the first time since we met, she did all the driving so I could work. There were no traffic problems at all, and no wrong turns, so (other than a few stops) we drove straight to the Holiday Inn and made pretty good time. With everything in the room (but not unpacked) by 5:45, I called Clark and he agreed to come to the hotel to meet us for dinner at 7:00. One of the restaurants in the hotel had a live country band that night, so we agreed to eat there.

The music was LOUD. Yeah, I know, that's no surprise, but Clark and I had a lot we wanted to talk about and that's almost impossible with music-like-jet-engines blasting all around you. Personally, I think that's a mistake: there's no reason to have the music so loud in a small restaurant like that. What's the point? They could have turned the volume half way down and it still would have been extremely loud, but at least we'd all still have solid bones and teeth!

Corinne has always loved her live music, though, and she was revelling in it. She also loved watching the people taking two-step lessons on the dance floor, and the little guy who was never going to "get it" no matter how long he was out there. And... the band was really good.

After we finished our dinner (MMmmm... steak), Clark and I went to the other restaurant for dessert so we could talk more comfortably, and Corinne stayed to listen to the band. Unfortunately, I was pretty tired (and had a headache) by this point, so I babbled a little. As most of my friends and family know, I'm fairly useless after 9:00 on most nights, so Clark probably went home thinking that "Seth is not at all who I thought he was." We'll be back at least one more time this year, hopefully we can get together again... for lunch!

Clark left at about 9:45, and I went back to the other restaurant to get Corinne... but she didn't want to leave yet.

The band -- Derryl Perry -- took a break just as I got there, so we were able to talk a little. She said that they had just gotten a record deal with Music City, and thought they were good enough to "make it." I went down to buy one of the CD's they had on sale (a 5 song demo disc), and Derryl didn't just autograph it but came up to our table and chatted with us for awhile! He thinks their new album will be released mid-Summer.

They really were very good, Corinne and I wished him and the band the best of luck.

After he left, Corinne asked me to take their picture so I went back to the room for my camera and snapped two of them after they were back on stage. One came out terribly, the other (shown here) is ok but everybody's eyes caught the flash and the drummer is hidden behind Derryl. (I'll fix the eyes when I get home and have access to the GIMP again, but I can't do anything about the missing drummer!)

She wanted a picture of Alan Jackson too, but I didn't feel like bothering him. (This guy we could see sitting at the bar looked a lot like him, and he knew it. He dressed like him, and his hair was the same, too.)